In The Cards

In a sea of competition, is it possible to remind former and prospective clients that you exist without constantly bugging them? Alan Gaynor, who runs a Manhattan architecture and interior design firm, thinks you can by using cards to keep your work in their minds.

Every time Alan Gaynor & Co. gets a new job or completes one, Gaynor sends out a wedding invitation-size card to 1,200 names on his mailing list. The card names the client and explains what the 21-person firm has been hired to do for it.

"The cards remind people we're still alive," says Gaynor. "What's more, a builder might learn that we also do interior work, or somebody who has used us on interiors can see we're capable of designing buildings.

"We try to do a mailing every two weeks," Gaynor continues. "It's like advertising -- you have to keep sending out the message if you want it to sink in." With postage and printing, mailings cost around $500, but Gaynor says it's money well spent. "If we get one job every two years as a result, the mailings pay for themselves."